Missy Smith

Having grown up around printing, Doug Weatherly has found it to be a natural fit. His father co-owned a print shop, at which his mother was involved in taking orders, working with customers and handling finances.

Tina Gray has managed the Oklahoma Department of Human Services' in-plant for 10 years, and she couldn't be happier. With a solid staff and an unforeseen passion for printing, Gray says the joys of the job outweigh the challenges by a long shot.

As communications leader for print production at Kohler Co., Christopher Donlon has his hands full. Each year, Donlon's team uses its array of Xerox equipment to produce millions of finished printed products in support of Kohler, best known as a manufacturer of plumbing products.

Ted Bailey’s dedication to printing began at an early age. During his high school years in Ontario, Calif., Bailey, now manager of printing and graphic services at Boise State University, worked for a commercial printer, along with his brother, doing miscellaneous bindery work. After taking some graphic arts classes, he was hooked.

Life has a way of changing our plans. And when you have as many interests and talents as John D.L. Johnson, the possibilities are endless. As a teenager, Johnson—now manager of Palm Beach County's Graphics Division—studied architectural drafting at Northern Montgomery County Vocational-Technical School, in Lansdale, Pa.

Minnesota State University-Mankato’s in-plant recently went chemical-free with a new Fujifilm computer-to-plate system. The 11-employee in-plant chose to go with a Fujifilm Dart 4300 and the Ecomaxx-T chemistry-free plate for several reasons. “Other than the fact it is the right thing to do for our environment, going chemistry-free has been a project of mine for the past couple of years,” says Director of Printing Doug Fenske.

For 33 years, Winona State University’s Print Shop had been using the same 30˝ power cutter. But when the shop upgraded its prepress and press operations last summer, Supervisor Greg Johnson decided that a new cutter was the next logical step. “With a constant turnover of student employees, we not only needed a dependable machine, but one that was safe and easy to operate,” says Johnson. So in January the Winona, Minn.-based shop installed a new Heidelberg POLAR 78X cutter. The staff was using it within days of delivery. “The old cutter...did not have all the safety features that the POLAR has,” Johnson says.

FOR RODNEY Vessell, Missouri State Printer, working in the printing industry was never part of his plan. A native of Farmington, Mo., a town of about 10,000 people, Vessell graduated from Farmington High School in 1980 with one thing on his mind: basketball. In fact, he attended the University of Missouri on a full basketball scholarship, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics. Upon graduation in 1984, he started sending out résumés. One of them found its way into the hands of Gary Judd, the Missouri State Printer. Judd called him for an interview. “After college, I had no

FOR DOUG Fenske, printing was never a thought in his mind when he was growing up in Madelia, Minn. Then in 1974, between his freshman and sophomore years at Gustavus Adolphus College, he took a summer job at House of Print, a newspaper printer that also did commercial work. “I fell in love and have been in printing ever since,” reflects Fenske, now director of printing at nearby Minnesota State University, Mankato. At House of Print, owned by Ogden Newspapers, Fenske was a camera assistant, shooting film and then stripping and making plates. After a couple of years, he

The Print Shop at Columbia College recently installed a Canon imagePRESS 7000 CV to meet quality and speed expectations that its previous device, a Canon CPP500, could not fulfill. Mark Tindell, director of Mail and Print Services at the Columbia, Mo., college, says the CPP500 “required frequent repairs, and the amount of up time was problematic.” So the in-plant turned to the imagePRESS 7000 CV, justifying its lease from Ikon by examining what it would cost to do the same type of work using outside sources. It is using the new digital press primarily to print newsletters for the start of the